The Adventure of the Human Intellect: Self, Society, and the Divine in Ancient World Cultures (Ancient World: Comparative Histories)

The Adventure of the Human Intellect presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds. Borrows themes from The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), updating an old topic with a new approach and up-to-date theoretical underpinning, evidence, and scholarship Provides a broad scope of studies, including discussion of highly developed ancient or early civilizations in China, India, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas Examines the world view of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine Considers a diversity of sources representing a wide array of particular responses to differing environments, circumstances, and intellectual challenges Reflects a more inclusive and nuanced historiographical attitude with respect to non-elites, gender, and local variations Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is edited by an internationally renowned scholar "In 1946, a series of lectures by scholars affiliated with the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute were assembled into a volume titled The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. The lectures explored themes of intellectual history and the development of abstract reasoning among the Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Hebrews. In The Adventure of the Human Intellect, fourteen scholars, led by editor Kurt A. Raaflaub, engage with the themes of that nearly seventy year old volume to bring its ideas into the twenty-first century. This work offers a new appraoch to an old debate about the beginnings of intellectual history and rational thinking, bring to bear modern theoretical approaches, up-to-date evidence, and the results of recent scholarship. The work is broader in scope than the 1946 original, including a discussion of civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds. It examines the worldviews of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine, and illuminates a wide array of responses to particular environments, circumstances and challenges. The Adventure of the Human Intellect focuses on ancient responses to widely differing conditions, as they manifest in social practices and cultural products, and in which relationships between religions, sciBack cover. Publisher's website 'The Adventure of the Human Intellect' presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilisations from both the Old and New Worlds. The Adventure of the Human Intellect presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds. Borrows themes from The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), updating an old topic with a new approach and up-to-date theoretical underpinning, evidence, and scholarship Provides a broad scope of studies, including discussion of highly developed ancient or early civilizations in China, India, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas Examines the world view of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine Considers a diversity of sources representing a wide array of particular responses to differing environments, circumstances, and intellectual challenges Reflects a more inclusive and nuanced historiographical attitude with respect to non-elites, gender, and local variations Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is edited by an internationally renowned scholar The Adventure of the Human Intellect" presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds. Borrows themes from The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), updating an old topic with a new approach and up-to-date theoretical underpinning, evidence, and scholarship. Providing a broad scope of studies, including discussion of highly developed ancient or early civilizations in China, India, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas, it examines the world view of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine. It considers a diversity of sources representing a wide array of particular responses to differing environments, circumstances, and intellectual challenges, and reflects a more inclusive and nuanced historiographical attitude with respect to non-elites, gender, and local variations The Adventure of the Human Intellect" presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds.0Borrows themes from The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), updating an old topic with a new approach and up-to-date theoretical underpinning, evidence, and scholarship. Providing a broad scope of studies, including discussion of highly developed ancient or early civilizations in China, India, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas, it examines the world view of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine. It considers a diversity of sources representing a wide array of particular responses to differing environments, circumstances, and intellectual challenges, and reflects a more inclusive and nuanced historiographical attitude with respect to non-elites, gender, and local variations